Device for holding and filling blank bills.



No. 726,171. 1 PATENTEDAPR. 21, 1903 v v G. J. KNOPF. I

, DEVICE FOR HOLDING AND-FILLING BLANK BILLS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 27, 1903.

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Inveneo'r:

'No. 726,171. PATENTED APR. 21,1903.- J. KNOPF.

' DEVICE FOR HOLDING AND FILLING BLANK BILLS.

APPLICATION PILE D JAN. 27, 1903.

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GEORGE J. KNOPF, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES H. RYAN, OFROOHESTER, NEW' YORK.

DEVICE FOR H QLDIN G A N D FILLING BLANK BILLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 726,171, dated April 21, 1903. Application filed January 27 1903. Serial No. 140,816. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE J. KNOPF, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Devices for Holding and Filling Blank Bills, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings.

My invention is an article of furniture or an implement for use in business offices, it being in part an improved holding device for office-papers, such as blank bills and similar sheets, and designed more particularly as a convenient portable holder or carrier for blank way bills used in railroad express freight offices With the frame or, body of this device is used a sheet of carbon copying paper, grips or claspsfor holding the ends of the same being provided as essential features of the invention. These way-bills, rectangular in form, are usually perforated longitudinally at. the middle line, the upper half being a printed blank, while the part below the ten portion of the bill as it is filled in.

The main object of this invention is to produce a device for accurately holding a pile or pad of blank bills and by means of which the latter may be successively made out and removed from the holder, a copy of each bill as the latter is written out-being simultaneously produced on the blank half of the bill or sheet.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be brought out and made to appear in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof, the invention being more particularly pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 is a plan of the device holding a package or pile of blank way-bills as in use. Fig. 2 is a planshowingthe top bill of the pile with its printed half turned over on top of the carbon-sheet in position to loo-written out. Fig. 3 is an end view of the device, seen as indicated by arrow 3 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a view of the front edge of the device, seen as indicated by arrow 4 in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 shows the device inverted. Fig. 6 shows the right-hand end of the device without blank sheets or bills, a part being broken away to further show the construction. Fig. 7 is a plan of the lower part of a clasp. Fig. 8' is an end view of a clasp, more fully showing its construction and manner of its use. Fig. 9 shows the positions of parts when a blank bill is folded over the carbon-sheet in position to be made out. Fig. 10 shows the form of a'blank bill, the rear side being presented. Figs. 3, 4., and 6 to 9, inclusive, are drawn to scales larger than that of Figs. 1, 2, 5, and 10.

Referring to theparts shown, A is the body of the device, it being preferably a thin substantially rectangular hard-wood board for holding the blank sheets or bills 13 and upon which to write. them out, the board being adapted to be held either upon the left arm or placed fiat upon a desk or table. This board or body is formed at its ends with projecting parts 0 0, Figs. 1 to 5, forming, with adjacent parts of the board, recesses E, as

shown. perforated line is wholly blank and without print for receiving .upon it a copy of the writ- The bills B are rectangular strips or sheets of paper, as shown in Fig. 10, there being a perforated line a, dividing each sheet longitudinally into an upper half I) and a lower half 0. The upper half of each sheet is printed on one side in blank form, as shown in Fig. 2, to be filled in by pen or pencil in making out a way-bill in any given case. These blank bills or sheets are placed in a pile or a pad upon the board A, their upper or farther edges touching, as a guide or stop, a longitudinal rib or bard, rising vertically from the upper face of the board. In supplyingthe board A with these sheets. they are placed thereon Withthe printed faces downward and with the printed portions of the bills nearest the front edgeof the board.

0, Figs. 1, 4c, 8, and 9, is a strip or sheetof carbon-paper slightly longer than the blank bills B and of a width about equal to one-half of the bill, this carbon-sheet being held horizontally above and upon the .pile of blank bills by a pair of-grip's or clasps D D, one at either end of the carbon-sheet. j In this position the lower edge of the carbon-sheet coin cides with the perforated line (b of the adjacent blank, as appears in Fig. 1. When the bill is to be made out, its lower printed half h is turned over on the carbon-sheet, as shown in Figs. 2 and 9, which brings the printed face of the part b of the bill upward ready to be filled. In this position of the parts the carbon-sheet is between the two halves b c of the blank bill, as clearly shown in Fig. 9, and when the bill is filled in with pen or pencil the part written will be copied onto the blank portion 0 of the bill immediately beneath the carbon-sheet. The bill thus completed is removed from the device, the next blank bill of the pile being now ready to be doubled onto the carbon-sheet and filled in in the same manner.

The clasps D D for holding the carbonsheet are of metal and peculiarly constructed and are carried at the endsof projecting arms or terminals 6 e of a spring carrying-wire f. This carrying-wire fis formed with springcoils g g at the rear edge of the board A for the purpose of giving sufficient spring action and sweep to the arms e e, holding the clasps. These arms act to keep the clasps D D normallydown upon the pile of bills B or against the board, as shown in Figs. 6 and 8, so the carbon-sheet will be at all times held down against the upper sheet of the pile, whether there be few or many sheetsin the pile. The clasps D D occupy the recesses E E, respectively, at the ends of the board and overhang the ends of the latter, as shown. Each clasp comprises an upper plate 7L and lower plate 1', alike as to their perimeters and having overlapping lugs 7i: Z, a spring hinge-wire m piercing the lugs upon which the plates may turn. The plates are formed with inwardly-projecting jaws r r for holding the carbon-sheet C, the jaws of the two lower plates resting upon the pile of blank sheets B serving to hold them in place. The spring-wire m of each clasp D has its ends 0 0, Figs. 6 and 7, bent inward in positions to press the inner opposing faces, respectively, of the upper and the lower plates 71. i in a manner to cause the opposing parts of the jaws r r to pinch and firmly hold the carbon-sheet.

The lower plates 2' of the clasps D are secured to the extreme ends of the arms 6 6,-

respectively, of the spring-wire holderfpreferably by passing the ends of the arms through loops .9, Figs. 4, 5, 7, and 8, of the plates. These plates 2' have swivel or rocking motions on the arms, permitting the clasps to at all times occupy horizontal positions upon the pile of blank bills B, whether high or low. The lower plates iare each formed with an angular offset part t, Figs. 4 and S, which pass down by the ends of the board A when the pile of bills becomes reduced by using therefrom, the clasps serving to hold the carbonsheet down near the surface of the board A when the last sheet B is removed from the device. Each clasp D is further formed with a pendent member or apron Lt between the pairs of jaws r 0, Figs. 3, 6, and S, in positions to act as abutting stops for the adjacent ends of the carbon-sheets to aid when placing the latter in the jaws of the clasps. To remove or replace a carbon-sheet, the jaws r are opened by pressing the opposing thumbpieces 19 1) together.

The spring fis made usually of a single piece of wire extending longitudinally along the under side of the board A, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and'held by staples 20, inserted into the board. This wire is also further stayed in place and supported by being passed into narrow vertical kerfs w, Figs. 5 and (5, formed in the rear edge of the board. This wire f is formed into vertical loops 1), Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6, rising above the projecting ends 0 of the board, which loops act as guides for the spring-arms e a while making their vertical movements during the operations of the parts.

For lifting the two clasps D D simultaneously to place a new package of bills in the device a lever-rod y, Figs. 14 and 6, is provided for the device. This rod is held upon the surface of the board A by staplesz', its ends a being bent forward beneath the arms a e of the spring-wiref, as shown, so that by turning the rod y backward it will lift the clasps D D, for the purpose stated. This lever-rod y is formed with an offset handle or part b to be pressed downward when it is wished to raise the clasps, as stated.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A device for holding and filling blank papers, consisting of a bottom board, a wire holder secured tothe bottom board and formed with projecting arms, and clasps for holding a sheet of paper held by the arms, the clasps having pivotal motions around their hearings on the arms.

2. A device of the kind described, comprising, in combination with a flat substantially rectangular bottom board, clasps at the ends of the bottom board for holding a sheet of paper, an elastic wire holder for the clasps, and means for simultaneously lifting the clasps.

3. A device of the kind described, comprisin g a bottom board, a pair of clasps for holding a sheet of paper over the bottom board, an elastic wire holder for the clasps, said wire holder being formed with projecting arms and spring-coils, and with guides for the projecting arms.

4:. A device for holding and filling blank bills, comprising a bottom board for holding the bills, a pair of clasps for holding a sheet of paper over the bottom board, a pair of spring-arms for holding the clasps at opposite sides of the board, and spring-coils and guideloops for the spring-arms, said arms and the spring-coils and guide-loops being all in one piece.

5. Adevice forholdingblankbills,comprising a bottom board, a pair of clasps for holding a sheet of paper over the bottom board, and a holder for the clasps, the latter having projecting jaws to bear upon the blank bills.

ICC

6. A device of the kind described, comprising abottom board, a pair of clasps for holding a sheet of paper over the bottom board, and holders for the clasps, the latter comprising a-pair of spring-actuated plates pivotally joined.

7. A device for holding and filling paper blanks, comprising a bottom board for holding theblanks, a pair of clasps over the bottom board, and holders for the clasps, the latter comprising each a pair of coacting spring-actuated plates pivotally connected, the plates being formed with pairs of opposing jaws, and the upper plate havingadownward-projecting part or apron between the pairs of jaws.

8. A device for holding and filling paper blanks, consisting of a bottom board, a pair of opposing clasps having inwardly-projecting-jaws, the clasps being adapted to occupy high or low positions over the bottolnboard, holders for the clasps secured to the bottom board, the clasps overhanging the edges of the bottom board with the jaws extending over said board.

9. A device for holding and filling blank bills, comprising a board for holding the blank bills, the board having projecting parts formt GEORGE v J. KNOPF.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. MARTENS, J M. SHULTs. 

